Power Tip 1
A lot of us use iTunes and we burn cd's from time to time, but not many of us have ever printed a cd cover from iTunes. We know that because Tim made us raise our hands. So Tim showed us how to print a CD cover. Right from iTunes. Of course, it looks so easy when Tim does it, oh, wait a minute, that's because it IS so easy! Check this out! Crank up iTunes and under the Source panel click on Library (you've got to be in your Library)
First we have to build the CD we're about to create. Move to the Search Bar so you can find songs for your new compilation album
.
Tim likes Chris Tomlin's music for example - so in the Search Bar you just type the name of the artist you're looking for, Chris Tomlin in this case, and boom! iTunes has pulled up all of your Chris Tomlin songs. Watch out for empty checkboxes next to the song titles. An empty checkbox means that song isn't going to be included.
TIP-WITHIN-A-TIP!! Command-Click selects/unselects everything! No carpel tunnel syndrome here.
What you check is what you get on the cd your making. Now we're getting to the cd cover part. Did you know that songs you download from iTunes usually have artwork associated with them? It's true. Click on one of your songs. That song's Album Artwork should be displayed in the lower left hand corner of your iTunes window. If that panel is hidden, you can make it visible by pulling down the Edit menu and selecting Show Artwork. Or you can just press Command-G on your keyboard. Viola! The artwork panel appears.
"What if I have a song without art work? like one that didn't come from iTunes?" That's a great question because that is the case sometimes.
Fortunately, other sites like Amazon have art work as part of their product listings Find your artwork there and then.... just click and drag!!
This gets a bonafide "OOOOOOHHHHH!!" from the crowd as Tim drags some art to the iTunes artwork panel. Truly a great geek moment.
So now you've rounded up your artwork, we're almost there.
Since you can't print a cd directly from the Library, you have to make a playlist. That's easy because you already have all the songs you want selected.
Choose File - New Playlist from Selection.
Name it.
Click on Burn Disc in the upper right hand corner of the iTunes window.
In the Burn Disc dialog window, iTunes has a print option making cd covers a snap!
The default layout theme "Text only" is kinda boring, maybe even ugly.
Look at Theme drop down box.
Check out a few of them. Tim chooses mosaic during the show.
Print.
iTunes will even give you crop marks so you can cut your printed page for an exact fit in your cd case.
Don't forget, you can use a heavier paper stock if you wish.
That's it!! And it's all in the box!
Power Tip 2
Ever feel a little vulnerable surfing around on the net? Well, here's a great feature built right into Mac OS X!
For the Macintosh user, there's not a lot of things out there to be worried about, but just the same, wouldn't it be nice to increase your security and protection from other computers? Well, Mac OS X has a feature called Stealth Mode. Here's how you enable it:
Open System Preferences and select Sharing
In the Sharing window click on Firewall, then click on the Advanced button.
Check Enable Stealth Mode and click OK. Close System Preferences.
Stealth Mode "ensures that any uninvited traffic receives no response - not even an acknowledgement that your computer exists."
Caveat emptor - there are some web sites that don't like this - they might not work right on your computer with Stealth Mode enabled. You might have to turn off stealth mode for particular sites.
Once again, it's all right out of the box. And once again, thanks, Tim, for two more really great tips.
I feel safer already.
